Doc Rivers Has No Issue With Ben Simmons' Poor Free-Throw Shooting

The Washington Wizards avoided elimination by defeating the 76ers 122-114, in large part due to their decision to employ the Hack-a-Shaq routine on Ben Simmons late in the game. Despite Simmons going 5-11 from the charity stripe, head coach Doc Rivers was sanguine post-game, stating that his young All-Star "does so many good things for this basketball team."

The former Coach of the Year pragmatically pointed to the analytics in defence of Simmons' subpar free-throw shooting. Rivers asserts that a point per possession is copacetic, as the 24-year-old shot 45% from the line in Game 4.

Doc Rivers, on Ben Simmons' free-throw shooting at the end: "Analytically, if you split all those free throws, you'll take a point per possession. He did that. I had no issues with it. "
— Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) June 1, 2021

Doc: "You guys keep this Ben Simmons narrative alive, which to me is freaking insane...Ben creates scoring for us. That's what he does. If I'm Ben at some point, I'd get tired of it. I just would. Because he's just too good, and does so many good things for this basketball team."
— Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) June 1, 2021

Heading into tonight's contest, Simmons was 0-9 from the free-throw line and is now a lacklustre 5-20. Although some will advise Rivers to sit the Defensive Player of the Year finalist in close games, he admonishes them to let him know— because, to him, that'll show you don't know basketball.

Rivers, on Simmons (continued): "With Ben, we're gonna keep him on the floor. Unless you guys want us to bench him the whole game. If anybody wants us to do that, just let me know, and then I'll know you don't know basketball."
— Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) June 1, 2021

Simmons finished the game with 13 points, 12 rebounds and 3 assists but with Joel Embiid's status up in the air he'll have to shoulder a heavier offensive load. Game 5 will be back in Philadephia on Wednesday.